


So That Happened

by zabira



Series: Strip Candyland [2]
Category: CW Network RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-16
Updated: 2009-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-03 01:02:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zabira/pseuds/zabira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"I guess you're really part of the family now, huh?"</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	So That Happened

**Author's Note:**

> Follow-up to [Rehearsing](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12496). Beta by the lovely Malnpudl. All remaining mistakes are my own.
> 
> Disclaimer: No disrespect intended to any of the persons depicted herein. This is purely fictional, and not in any way intended as an accurate representation of reality.

Apparently, what happened in Jared's trailer that day was going to become just something they'd done.

"So that happened," he'd said. Maybe that was that.

Jared, ever the gentleman, had checked in with her about it almost right away, anxious to make sure she was okay. Her body had still been buzzing with the high of it, and her reply had been a resounding, "Yes."

None of them had hinted at an encore. They'd all three of them gone home together that evening as usual, and as usual, they'd eaten dinner together. Jared and Jensen had fiddled with their guitars afterwards, while she'd curled up on the sofa with her book. At some point, Jensen had wandered off to his room, and she and Jared had curled up in Jared's bed, just as they always did.

It hadn't even been awkward.

Since that day, she hasn't seen a trace of self-consciousness in Jensen. He is, if anything, more relaxed and comfortable around her, more quick to smile or joke, more free with the same casual affection he gives to Jared. There isn't anything overtly sexual about the new way he treats her--just warm, easy friendliness--but it nonetheless makes her flash back to what they'd done.

The day Jensen left for LA, he'd pulled her into one of those full-body hugs she's more used to from Jared and rocked her back and forth happily. There had been no suggestiveness to it, but it'd made her heart beat just a little faster. She'd been acutely conscious of each separate place their bodies had touched.

When he'd pulled back, there'd been the barest flush on his cheeks, but his eyes had been clear, "We'll see you in three weeks," he'd said.

"Yeah," she'd replied, and they had smiled at one another.

It was only after he'd turned away that it hit her. "We" meant Danneel.

It's not that she'd forgotten about Danneel, it's just that she has no idea what to say to her now.

She's still worrying about it long after Jensen leaves and they have the house to themselves.

"Jared, what is she going to think of me? It didn't even cross my mind. I just got all caught up and-" she stops. "It _sounds_ terrible, Jay."

"It's not," he says, "and she'd say the same."

"How do you know? I mean, just because you have some insane pass from the universe to live this way, doesn't mean that everybody-"

"Gen? I thought you were okay with, um, this whole-," he waves his hand helplessly, but she gets what he means. They weren't even dating yet when she'd heard the whole story of him and Jensen. He'd smiled like the sun when he'd figured out that she wasn't going to ask him to choose between them.

"Aw, sweetie, I _am_." He looks worried, and she leans in to kiss him, wanting to reassure him with more than words. "I wouldn't have said so if I wasn't, but not everyone thinks that way. Hell, hardly anyone thinks that way."

He laughs, "Well, Danny isn't just _anyone_."

Gen has to acknowledge the truth of that. Danneel has never been the type to allow convention to stand in her way. Girl marches to the beat of her own drum, and that's a fact. Still, Gen's not ready to laugh it off, and her expression must be a bit fierce.

Jared sobers and says, "Gen, really, it's going to be fine. Jensen would never have let anything happen if it wasn't. You know him better than that."

"Yeah, well, that doesn't let _me_ off the hook," she retorts.

Jared pulls her into a brief hug, "Maybe not," he says, "but I don't think she'll see it that way."

Well, she would find out soon enough.

Four days ago, they'd piled the dogs and their stuff into Jared's car, and set out for LA. When Jared did this by himself, he lived like Sam and Dean, staying in sketchy roadside motels and driving until he couldn't anymore. When it was just the two of them, they made a vacation of it, sticking to the coast road, and stopping whenever they felt like it.

By the time they get to Jensen's she's had four days of his off-key car serenades and rambling conversations and unexpectedly easy silences to buck her up for what's coming.

Even so, as soon as they pull into the drive, she starts to tense up. Of course Jared notices, and he reaches over to kiss his favorite spot in front of her ear, the one where her hair curls the most. "It's going to be fine, Gen," he says. His hand rubs soothingly over her spine, and then he's pulling away and getting out of the car.

At the door, there is a confusion of barking dogs and excited greetings. Danneel pulls her into a hug, and so does Jensen.

He turns to Jared next, "What took you so long, Padalecki? We were about to send out a search party."

"Aw, Jen. D'ya miss me? That's so sweet." Jared's grinning from ear to ear

Jensen holds up his hand, "Nah, man. Just didn't want to be the one to tell Kripke you'd been eaten by a bear."

Jared's apparently had enough of that. "Idiot," he says, and pulls Jensen in. They hug like long-lost brothers. Jensen tucks his nose in Jared's neck, and Gen can hear him whisper, "Jay." That's it.

They do this every time, and she and Danneel share a grin and an eye roll, as usual, but then Genevieve flashes to Jared's words that day, _You know how I feel now, Gen_ and _He fucks me just like this_. Every part of her blushes, and she suddenly doesn't know where to put her eyes. She can't meet Danny's and she can't look at Jared and Jensen, embracing so unselfconsciously in the doorway.

Danneel gets the little crinkle between her brows that means she's working something out, but she doesn't say anything. The moment is broken when Harley jumps up, tries to muscle in between the boys and nearly knocks them over. The dogs all start up with barking again, and Jared gets down on the floor to quiet them.

Gen goes to put her suitcase away, but instead of unpacking, she sits on the bed for long moments, trying to catch her breath.

When she comes back out into the living room, Danneel is there alone. Jared is playing in the back yard with the dogs, who were keyed up and miserable after all day in a crate, and she can hear Jensen clattering around in the kitchen.

She wasn't planning on having the conversation like this, but maybe it's better to just rip the band-aid off. She can't quite figure out how to start, but it doesn't matter, because Danneel beats her to it.

"I guess you're really part of the family now, huh?" she says.

"What, I didn't mean, I'm so-"

Danneel cuts her off, "Jesus, the look on your face." She laughs, "Gen, it's fine, really. No apologies."

"How is that possible?"

"Jared likes you," she says, as if this explains why it was okay for her to fuck Danny's boyfriend up against a wall.

Gen doesn't even know where to start, "I-"

But Danneel is already kissing her cheek and walking past her, shouting, "Boys, what ya making us? We're starving, right, Gen?"

She can hear Jared's voice from the backyard, "Danny, since when are we your servants?"

"Since always," she says.

Jensen comes out of the kitchen to kiss Danneel and hand her a beer, "I never signed up for that."

"Oh, yes you did, baby."

"Yeah, well, today you're going to have to make do with Jared. He's got plans for the barbecue."

Danneel mock-scowls, "Oh, now we're making our guests cook for us?"

"Whatever. Jared isn't a guest. Anyway, it was his idea. Don't blame me if the house burns down."

"After last time, I've got the fire department on speed dial," Danneel says.

Jensen laughs, "That's my girl."

Nothing catches fire, and they eat around the picnic table in the back yard. LA is being kind to them. The heat is just right, and the air smells more like flowers than city-dust. It would be a perfect evening, but Gen can't quite get into the swing of it today. The three of them chatter and joke and tease around her, and normally she'd be wading right into the fray.

Their words wash over her, though she only catches about half of them. The three of them aren't oblivious to her silence, but they don't seem concerned either. It appears that they've collectively decided to give her some space.

They don't make any attempt to include her in their conversations, but it doesn't make her feel lonely. Jensen touches her arm gently when he reaches to fill her wine glass, and Jared kisses the top of her head on one of his passes back from the kitchen. Their plain, easy affection warms her, but it also lights her up, reminds her body of the easy way they'd shared her between them.

With Danneel right there, the feeling only confuses her further. Gen's thinking so hard there might as well be little thought bubbles over her head.

After dinner, the boys go to wash up, and Danneel comes to sit next to her in the living room.

"You're still having trouble with this, aren't you?" she says.

Gen sighs. Normally she'd be so happy to be spending the evening with these three. "I just don't understand why you're not."

"Why do I _have_ to be mad at you?" Danneel grins, "As if I'd be any better at resisting those two." She leans a little closer to Gen and whispers, "Don't tell 'em I said that, all right?"

"But-"

Danneel's expression turns serious. "Would you like a scolding? I can give you one." She reaches out her hand and bats lightly at Gen's wrist. "There, you've had your punishment." She grins, "Now. Next time, young lady, you call me right away and give me all the details."

"Next time?"

Danny doesn't respond to that. "Don't you go forgetting that we're friends again, or I really _will_ take you out back and beat you. Gen, if you were so worried, you could've talked to me weeks ago."

Trust Danny to hit the nail on the head like that. Gen hadn't been thinking about their friendship that day, and she would've hated losing it. She's suddenly overwhelmed with gratitude for these people in her life, with their down-home courtliness and startling pockets of unconventionality. "Yes, ma'am," she says.

"Okay, then." Danneel smacks her hands down gently on her own knees, as if to signify a job well done. Then she leans over the space between them and kisses Gen on the cheek.

She's just pulling back when Jared and Jensen come clattering into the room.

They're trash-talking a mile a minute about who's better at some video game the details of which Gen can barely decipher. They sink down on the sofa without even a glance at the corner where Gen and Danneel are perched. Danneel flicks a wry look at Gen, and settles in for the shenanigans.

Gen just watches the two of them wrestling over the controllers and grinning. Jensen gets a dig into Jared's side that actually makes him drop his. Jared shouts, "Danny, look what he did. Can't you control your boy over here?"

Danneel slouches further into her chair and laughs, "Jay, is he being mean to you? You want I should call your mama?"

"What I want is for you to come over here and kiss it better," he says.

Jensen scoffs, and bats him over the head. "Big baby."

Danny only stops laughing long enough to stick her tongue out at him.

By this time, the game is giving the sad, deflated noise it uses when a character dies. It's presumably Jared's, as his controller is still on the floor, and Jensen crows, "I kicked your ass, dude."

Jared pretends to be angry, but he can't quite manage it. "It's not winning if you have to cheat, you jerk." He tackles Jensen to the floor, and pretends to beat on him, but neither of them can stop smiling. They're rolling around like puppies, kicking and smacking at each other and confusing the real dogs.

Danneel's giggling is now completely out of control, and Gen gets it all of a sudden. At least, she thinks she does.

The boys are oblivious, but Danneel glances at her and gives her a wink. Gen thinks, _Part of the family_. She can do that. She watches the boys gasping and flailing on the floor, and finally starts to laugh. The sound of it twines with Danny's, free and easy and sweet.

~fin


End file.
